It is an indirect outgrowth of Marxist thinking. It refers to the existence and continuance of underdevelopment in a highly unequal international capitalist system. The international system is dominated by unequal power relationships between the centre (the developed nations) and the periphery (the less developed countries). The poor nations attempt to become self-reliant and independent but this system makes it difficult and sometimes even impossible.
According to this theory, certain groups in the developing countries (including landlords, entrepreneurs, military rulers, merchants, salaried public officials, and trade union leaders) who enjoy high incomes, social status, and political power constitute a small elite ruling class whose principal interests are in perpetuation of the international capitalist system of inequality. Directly and indirectly, they serve (are dominated by)and are rewarded by (are dependent on) international special-interest power groups including multinational corporations, national bilateral-aid agencies, and multilateral assistance organizations like the World Bank or the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Therefore, a major restructuring of the world capitalist system is required to free dependent developing nations from the direct and indirect economic control of their developed-world and domestic oppressors.
Curiously, a very similar but obviously non-Marxist perspective statement was expounded by Pope John Paul II in his widely quoted 1988 encyclical letter:
“One must denounce the existence of economic, financial, and social mechanisms which, although they are manipulated by people, often function almost automatically, thus accentuating the situation of wealth for some and poverty for the rest. These mechanisms, which are manoeuvred directly or indirectly by the more developed countries, by their very functioning, favour the interests of the people manipulating them. But in the end they suffocate or condition the economies of the less developed countries.”